Corsairs

It's been a long time since our screens were boarded by a decent pirate game, or any sort of pirate game at all, for that matter. If you've been keeping up with the latest developments, however, you'll know that they're about to become as abundant as crap daytime TV talk shows, and Corsairs is the first to appear.

It's an inoffensive strategy title which involves sailing the seven seas, tracking down pirates, plundering island forts, destroying enemy fleets and escaping with their gold. This may sound good in theory, but in practice it doesn't quite make the grade. The aim of the game is to get together a fleet of ships by either capturing or buying them, and then carrying out missions set by the governor of your territories. It gets off on the wrong foot, as the tutorial is more confusing than enlightening. The graphics are cute, and the shadows cast by the boats as they bob up and down in the water are good, but as the ships move the graphics jerk, spoiling the effect.

The gameplay is slow and repetitive, the story is dull and has no effect on the game, and the music is migraine-inducing. There is hardly any resource management and you do not get to build anything other than ships. It's a shame, as the game would have been so much better if you had been able to move on to land and set up your own outpost. Without this, the game has very limited appeal. With very few units and slow gameplay, Corsairs is definitely only for strong fans of the strategy genre. If you're looking for a good pirate game, bury your pennies on a desert island until Cutthroats comes out.